Xalan Mated (Xalanite Mates #3)

Chapter 1

Leigh

I didn’t think the day would end up like it did. There I was, milking Snoop Coww in the barn, when a loud crash outside shook the whole structure. I ran out to see what had happened, and that’s when life changed forever on our small farm.

The ship was like nothing I’d ever seen, all sleek metal and glass lines, with odd purple lights and a low humming that vibrated through the ground it had embedded itself in.

That ground being, of course, our main dairy pasture.

Lil Moo, Fanny X, and Das Milk—our oldest heifers who, like Snoop Coww, were named when I was quite a bit younger and a lot less creative—all huddled in the back of the enclosure, their eyes wide. They lowed and mooed at the bus-sized machine while the younger girls inched closer, sniffing the air around the ship.

Dad ran out of the slaughterhouse a few hundred yards away, bloody apron billowing. He shouted at me to stay back, but I couldn’t help myself.

I’d seen the news over the past year about Earth’s new visitors: the Xalanites. They first appeared to the public on the White House lawn, and since then most of their sightings had been in upstate New York, though there was one noteworthy crash landing in Chicago during the summer. I never had thought I’d see one of their ships in person, especially not on our remote Wisconsin dairy farm.

By most accounts, the Xalanite visitors to Earth were supposed to be friendly. My aunt, Ann Hall, even worked with them on a daily basis. As the Director in charge of the AARO—the USA’s alien investigation division—she knew every Xalanite on Earth. Sure, there had been a few bad eggs in the news, but overall, the media portrayed shy, reserved women and jovial, outgoing men among the alien species.

Jovial and stacked .

I’d be lying to myself if I said I hadn’t fantasized about meeting one. Word was they had some … bonus “equipment” that human men didn’t have.

Dad always teased me about that when he caught me watching news reports featuring the alien hotties. He joked that, as a virgin, I wouldn’t know what to do with that special equipment, but growing up on a farm where we bred and raised our own livestock, I knew enough about the birds and the bees to have developed a healthy curiosity about the human mechanics of sex. The internet helped, showing me the human side of it in all its varied forms. After as much research as I’d done into my own species, I figured I could learn Xalanite mating practices easily enough, provided I was lucky enough to meet one.

I climbed over the fence and crept up to the still-smoking ship, wondering who was inside. Most of the Xalanites on Earth had been men so far, with a handful of dutiful wives joining their mates on a trip across the galaxy. Was the pilot a male? Was he alone, or did he bring others with him? My heart thumped in my chest as I moved forward.

A sudden loud hiss startled me, and I jumped back in sync with the heifers. A few of our girls sprinted away from the ship, leaving me mostly alone in the pasture. I put a hand on Taylor Hoof’s shoulder, though whether to calm her or myself I didn’t really know.

With the sound a panel came off the ship, descending into a ramp. I froze as a pair of large, black, scaled leather boots appeared on the ramp. The boots stomped down the angled panel, revealing muscular legs in fitted leather pants and a well-defined chest in—you guessed it!—more leather. If I had a leather kink, this would have been a dream come true. As it was, I caught myself staring with my mouth gaping open as he finally came far enough out of the ship to show his face.

I knew Xalanites had purple scales instead of skin. Everybody knew that. What I didn’t know was how incredibly hot those scales could be. His chiseled jaw shimmered in the light emanating from the ship, and when he turned to face me, I was met with mesmerizing yellow eyes framed with thick, dark lashes. His short black hair was shiny and tousled, getting further mussed when he ran a leather-clad hand through it. He smiled, revealing iridescent white teeth and fangs, and I held onto Taylor Hoof for dear life as my legs turned into jelly.

“Hello! I am T’raat. What is your name?”

His voice was rich and deep, though his pronunciation was a bit stilted and overly formal. I paused with my jaw hanging as I pondered his question.

My name? What was my name? I seemed to have forgotten …

“Leigh Ann Hall! Get away from that thing!”

Oh, right. Leigh Ann. Dad’s shouts reminded me of who I was, and I opened my mouth to speak when T’raat’s expression changed into one of abject horror.

“Look out! There is a beast beside you!”

I turned and looked around, but the only “beast” around was Taylor Hoof, and she certainly wasn’t anything to worry about.

“Her?” I said, confused. “Taylor Hoof isn’t a beast. She’s our prize heifer.”

“Heff-err?” T’raat cocked his head, looking just as confused as I felt. “My nanites do not readily find that word. What does it mean?”

Nanites? “She’s a cow.” It felt stupid to say. Of course she was a cow! But I tried to remind myself that T’raat was maybe new on Earth, and maybe he hadn’t ever seen a cow before. I mean, if I saw a Xalanite animal that was considered perfectly harmless on their planet, I’d probably freak out too.

I took another step forward, my hand still on Taylor Hoof’s shoulder. “She’s okay. She won’t hurt you … well, as long as you don’t scare her.”

T’raat paused. “Cow … Beast of burden. Food source. Interesting.” He took a few more steps down the ramp until he was on solid ground, approaching slowly. “May I … touch the cow?”

I shrugged. “Sure. She’s friendly.”

My eyes followed his every step as he strode towards me. I took in his hips, his legs, his chest, his eyes … I couldn’t believe my luck.

Dad had to go and ruin it, though. Before T’raat reached me, he thundered between us and brandished his butcher knife. “Stop right there! You’re not getting your alien hands on my daughter!”

I cringed. “Aw, Dad! He’s not hurting anything. He just wanted to pet her.”

“That’s probably not the only thing he wants to pet,” Dad snarled.

“Jesus, Dad. You’re being ridiculous.” I stomped around him, dodging his outstretched arm as he tried to stop me. “The poor guy just crashed. We should take him inside and make sure he’s not hurt or something.”

“Leigh Ann! Did you forget what these things did to your Aunt Ann? They almost killed her!”

“Not this one,” I said, irritated with Dad’s apparent xenophobia and bigotry. So a Xalanite hurt his sister, Ann—so what? It wasn’t this Xalanite.

Tossing my blonde ponytail over my shoulder, I jogged up to meet T’raat. Taylor Hoof, having apparently decided that the grass was plenty green enough right where she stood, didn’t follow me. She just pulled up some blades with her teeth and started chewing.

“Sorry about my dad. He’s a little overprotective.”

T’raat nodded solemnly. “Yes. A father should protect his young.”

I put my hands on my hips and scowled at him. “I’m not that young! I’m an adult, I’ll have you know. Twenty-two next week.”

The purple man paused. Blinked. Grinned. “Old enough for mating, yes?”

That wasn’t quite what I was getting at, but technically correct. “Uh …”

“Don’t you dare!” Dad had caught up with us. “Leigh Ann, I swear, if you encourage this—this— thing …”

“Dad! He’s a person for fuck’s sake. Calm down.”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back from T’raat. “If you continue to talk to me like that, missy, you’ll be grounded, adult or not.”

I yanked my arm free and scowled at Dad. “Well, you’re being unreasonable. This man is in trouble, and we should be helping him.” I waved at the smoking spaceship. “He just crashed here, and you’re too busy hating him for something someone else did to even bother asking if he’s okay. What if he’s hurt? We should be taking him to the farmhouse and finding that out, not yelling at the poor guy. You haven’t even introduced yourself to him. Just running up with a knife like he was some kind of criminal.”

Dad harrumphed and crossed his burly arms over his chest, resting them on his beer gut. If it wasn’t for his pudgy belly, he might have made a more imposing figure, but juxtaposed next to T’raat, who didn’t have an ounce of fat that I could see, it just made Dad look more like a grumpy old curmudgeon. I doubted T’raat could be dissuaded from anything by Dad’s stance, though the butcher knife still in his hand might still be enough of a threat to the newcomer.

After a few tense moments, Dad sniffed and rubbed the tip of his nose with the back of his hand. “I’m Harrison. Harrison Hall. Are you … Did you get hurt in the crash or anything?”

T’raat grinned again, his scaled cheeks dimpling. “I am unharmed, but many thanks for the inquiry.”

I stammered a response as I started to drip sweat. “N-no problem.” I fanned myself with my hand. Was the temperature rising, or was it just me? Wisconsin fall weather certainly wasn’t usually this warm, and I hadn’t seen anything on the news about a heat wave coming through.

The alien’s gaze burned into me. “Are you unwell?” he asked as I panted and huffed.

“I’m just … a little … dizzy.”

A frown marred T’raat’s perfect face. “Perhaps we should get you to this farmhouse, if that is where injured humans go,” he said. He turned to Dad. “If she is not well enough to walk, I can carry her, Harrison.”

The warring expressions on Dad’s face would have been humorous if I hadn’t been about to pass out. The proximity to T’raat had my head spinning, due in no small part, I’m sure, to the intensity of his inspection of me. Every second his eyes were on me I felt myself fading more, and I cursed myself for being such a weenie. Why couldn’t I just breathe?

“Here,” T’raat said, his voice suddenly soft. He scooped me into his arms before Dad could object. “Direct me to the farmhouse. I will take you there.”

Oh, be still my heart!

An alarm beeped somewhere on T’raat, and he blinked in confusion. After shifting my weight in his arms to check a device on his wrist, realization crossed his features. The gills on the side of his neck flared a couple of times as he breathed deeply. “Oh! It is my fuel exhaust. There is a contaminant leaking. As the smallest of us, you are most affected by the fumes.” He turned to Dad. “We must vacate the area before she is further overcome. Please, lead me to the farmhouse.”

That seemed to cinch it for Dad. He might be pissed, but he would never intentionally let me come to harm by keeping T’raat from getting me to safety. He grunted and gave a small nod, and I rested my dizzy head against T’raat’s broad shoulder as he carried me to the house.

Mom would have had a conniption fit if she’d seen me in the arms of an alien man after a loud crash out in the field. Dad was probably glad Mom hadn’t lived to see this; she had been even more protective of me than Dad, if that was at all possible. Dad at least gave me some leeway in my freedoms after Mom died, like he felt guilty for me losing her so young.

Once he let T’raat inside with me, Dad directed him up the stairs to my bedroom. T’raat laid me gently down on the bed and brushed his scaled fingertips over my forehead, careful not to scratch me with his claws.

“Rest, young human. Let your lungs clear.”

Dad grumbled and tugged at T’raat’s shoulder. “That’s enough of that. You should get out of here.” So much for Dad being understanding.

“Please, Dad. Let him stay,” I begged as my eyelids grew heavy. “Please?”

“I will keep her safe,” T’raat assured. “No harm will come to her under my watch.”

To my surprise, Dad begrudgingly agreed. “Fine.” He stalked off, and T’raat turned back to me.

“Rest,” he crooned, his voice strangely hypnotic. “Rest and recover.”